what to do next?

[miohippus]

We finally have all our live rock in our 55 gal tank. the tank has been set up and running with a clean up crew since March. Ran all the tests in our test kit today everything and checked out ok
we want :

• some corals
• clownfish
• bubble tip anemone
• Royal gramma
  
• Longnose hawkfish
  
• Firefish
  
• Aurora goby/pistol shrimp (Maybe)

we can't get everything at once so my question is when is ok to start putting fish and corals in, do i put fish first or corals, which fish should i start with? it may be a couple of months in between fish.

 

[LivinTheSwreefLife]

Hi mio, when you say everything checked out okay, do you mean that your tank has fully cycled? (showed an ammonia spike, then nitrites, then nitrates)? OR was the live rock from a well established tank, and you have a lot of it? (which can sometimes allow you to bypass the spike)

If so, what is your lighting on your tank? That will determine what corals you can add. I don't think it matters if you add corals before fish or vice versa, but it does matter what order you add fish in if the species is an aggressive one (add it last)

 

[LivinTheSwreefLife]

Oh and I'd definitely wait on the anemone. They need a well established tank and locked-in water parameters.

 

[miohippus]

well that is one problem i'm not sure exactly what fully cycled means. The live rock came from tanks at my LFS so not sure on how established they are and I think we have about 40 or 50lbs of it. We have two light hoods with led lights that the ppl a the LFS recommend we get for coral. But i don't remember right now what strength they are. would the clowns be the most aggressive out of my list?

 

[ca2or]

Take water to your LFS and have them test, if everything is inline I would pick up something like a lawnmower blenny. I don't like being in this stage as I feel like I am possibly putting a fish to it's death if I a wrong, but there is only one way to find out really.

 

[miohippus]

I have a API saltwater master test kit which is the same one my LFS uses. it has test for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels i ran all of them to day and the Ph was higher than last time but still an acceptable level everything else was at 0ppm the same as last week when i checked it. I live way out in the country on a goat ranch and don't get into the big city much part of why it might be a while in between adding new fish.

 

[ca2or]

Drop a shrimp in there....they tend to be fairly delicate and also fairly cheap. If the shrimp doesn't explode, catch fire, or otherwise die.....you should be good to go. Sorry, but I just don't know of any other way. I tested mine with Xenia and a peppermint shrimp....when everything was still alive 3 days later.....I came home with like $500 worth of fish and coral

 

[miohippus]

Oh, Ok i have had two peppermint shrimp in there for about a week they seem to be thriving the female was gravid when we got her and she released her little shrimplets there were a ton of them, lol

 

[steve&mari]

How did you start the cycling of tank have you fed tank since March? Royal gramma would probably be last to add with hawkfish. I'd start with any of the rest of fish on list they all shouldn't be trouble as to order added. But corals depends on light as to what you're able to do. Zoas n mushroom are easy starter corals Kenya trees ect all are easy care compared to lps and sps required stable mature tanks as does a nem. Post pics and more info on light for more help on corals.

 

[miohippus]

I have feed the hermits and shrimp if that is what you mean not sure how to cycle the tank.

 

[moulton1853]

I'm in the same boat as you except I got a small zoa with my cuc. It seems to be doing OK. You should be safe to add a clownfish and royal gamma and few corals. I wouldn't do to much too fast as it could lead to an extreme ammonia spike. Not enough good bacteria yet to combat the increased bioload. I will be going to lfs to find my fish once my kids are back in school.

 

[miohippus]

This is one of my hoods and the little square is a blue light.

i also got this polyp as a hitchiker and it seems to be doing ok so far

 

[steve&mari]

I have feed the hermits and shrimp if that is what you mean not sure how to cycle the tank.

That should have cycled tank then. Go slow n should be ok.

 

[steve&mari]

This is one of my hoods and the little square is a blue light.

i also got this polyp as a hitchiker and it seems to be doing ok so far

Do you know brand of light I'll do some checking into it n let you know more. Also watch that hitchhiker looks like green star polyps or xenia they come in various colors but are a pain in the rear they grow wild n can cover almost anything so keep it away from other corals.

 

[miohippus]

awesome!!! can't wait till i can go to the city then

 

[miohippus]

ok, will do on polyp they seem to be staying on the rock they came on so far. I'm not sure of the brand on the light though i keep the box but can't find it.

 

[Harold Green]

When you cycle a tank generally you add an ammonia source and keep adding it while the tank cycles until the tank bacteria can reduce it to zero in a short period of time. You don't want to let the tank sit without some source of ammonia for an extended period of time as your bacteria will eventually starve and you'll have to start over. Any animals that you feed will provide that ammonia after the tank has cycled. Just start adding one at a time checking the water quality for each addition and if it stays at zero ammonia, zero nitrite you're good to add more. With good filtration and plenty of live rock you can add more at a time safely.

 

[miohippus]

Thanks everyone for the great info

 

[miohippus]

Do you know brand of light I'll do some checking into it n let you know more. Also watch that hitchhiker looks like green star polyps or xenia they come in various colors but are a pain in the rear they grow wild n can cover almost anything so keep it away from other corals.

went to my LFS last night took a pic of the light fixture like we bought

 

[miohippus]

Ok so I got a fish and a little zoa frag and today I checked my water and everything is ok except the nitrate went up to 5.0 ppm so dose that mean I need to do a water change?